Tangled Web UK Review September 2000
Prey to All by
Natasha Cooper
hbk out July 00
Published by Simon Schuster
at £16.99
Trish Maguire is a barrister who is urged by a friend to take up the case of Deb Gibbert, a woman sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her father. The friend, Anna Grayling, is a television producer who is keen to make a Rough Justice programme on behalf of Deb. So Trish visits Deb in prison and is convinced of her innocence. But the case against Dab is strong, as Trish realises as soon as she reviews the case. Deb was with her father to the end and everyone in the family, including her husband, thinks she killed him. Her sister is particularly vindictive and her hostile evidence in court helped to convict Deb. The doctor who attended Deb’s father is also hostile. He is sure that Deb is guilty and claims that, if she killed as an act of mercy, it is no defence either in law or morality, And her barrister, Phil Radstona, appears to have put up a tepid defence, as if he, too, believed in Deb's guilt, and Trish risks his anger at her reopening of the case and, perhaps, exposing his shortcomings. Trish has a good deal of support for her stance and welcomes the support of an MP, Malcolm Chaze. The MP is a former lover of Deb and is keen to take part in the proposed television production. Complications ensue and there are doubts whether Anna's programme will get the necessary funding.
Trish is a very interesting and rounded character and her personal life with her lover George is a convincing backdrop to the main plot line. This is her story and is told mainly from her point of view, but the author switches when it suits her purpose to let us know what other characters doing and thinking. This gives the reader an insight, for example, into the disturbed mind of Deb in prison and into the unforgiving mind of Dr Foscutt. The result is a well-written mystery and a compulsive read.
Natasha Cooper is Chairman of the Crime Writers Association and this is her tenth crime novel. If they are all as good as this one new readers will almost certainly want to seek them out.
(
John Boyles
)
